Reeves Batman Will Feature The Penguin and Catwoman among other villians !!!

IS ROBERT PATTINSON the new Batman? That's THE question on the geek mind Friday. The answer is…complicated.

Depending on who you talk to Pattinson is just the frontrunner on a very very short list. Others will tell you the part is his. Or even that a deal is done.

One insider tells Heat Vision it’s still on ongoing process. And that there’s a whole vetting system that is underway. While mum on details, that “process” means, in part, screen tests, costume tests, readings, and meetings. But, yes, deep conversations are being had.

Batman is, for Warner Bros., THE most important brand, IP, character, whatever you want to call him, in its portfolio. He is the most popular superhero character in the world, even bigger than anything Marvel has. In fact, Batman has only risen in importance since Christian Bale headlined the Christopher Nolan trilogy in the aughts.

So Warners exec are, of course, being extremely meticulous, perhaps to a fault, in handling what is supposed to be a new trilogy. They don’t want a repeat of the Ben Affleck debacle where they had a divisive Batman and saw a potential solo franchise collapse in public.

(And regarding the importance of costume tests, you may recall that how an actor looked in a mask was a key factor for Warners choosing Ryan Reynolds over Bradley Cooper when casting Green Lantern…not that the final product seemed to have mattered.)

Matt Reeves is still tweaking his script, which is rumored to have at least two villains, the Penguin being one of them, according to sources (one person is telling us there will be around half-a-dozen villains!). We’re hearing of another purrfect character making an appearance in the script as well.